Read Online Paris Summer by April Lynn Kihlstrom - Free Book Online Page B

out to buy a croissant and then prepared cafe au lait
back in the apartment. It was nice, she thought, to be
able to make it strong the way the French did. Rena,
unfortunately, preferred her coffee American style and
while she had been there, her preferences had
prevailed. Janine opened Rena’s map of Paris as she
savored her croissant. The map was a good one,
showing all the major points of interest as well as one or
two of the large department stores. On the back were
Metro and bus maps. As Janine considered the
possibility of walking over to Notre Dame, she noticed
some buildings a little farther east on the map on the
Left Bank. They looked very familiar. “Of course!
What a ninny I am!” she exclaimed. “The algebra
seminar.
    Janine smiled. She was looking forward to the
seminar and not just because the subject interested her.
Janine intended to prove to Mark that she did indeed
have a respectable grasp of mathematics. In a way it
was a challenge, and she could never resist a challenge.
Most of her life, it seemed, she had been answering
challenges. As an undergraduate, Janine had encountered a number of professors who felt girls shouldn’t be
in mathematics. This had angered her, and she had set
out to prove them wrong. It was the same thing now
with Mark. She was not going to let him sneer at her. “I
must remember,” she told herself, “to tell Mark, the
next time I see him, how interesting the seminar was.”
    She sighed. She could almost hear her mother saying, “Jenny, that is not the way to attract a man! All
you’ll do is antagonize him.”

    Quite true, probably, but then Mark was Rena’s
fiance so it didn’t matter. There was no question of
trying to attract him. She wished her mother were
wrong, but if men preferred intelligent women then
why was Rena so popular? Not, of course, that Rena
was stupid. She just never let men know she had a
brain. Well, it’s no use trying to imitate Rena, Janine
thought. I can only be myself. If men don’t like it I’ll
just have to get used to being single. Free! she corrected
herself sternly.
    Janine opened the window and stood looking out
over the paved courtyard where two little girls were
playing. Still, she thought wistfully, it would be nice to
have children.
    Glancing quickly away from the children, Janine
noticed the sky growing cloudy. I hope it doesn’t rain,
she thought. I’m sure Rena doesn’t have an umbrella I
could use.
    Rena did not believe in umbrellas. Nor did she like
rain. But she liked meeting men. “When you stand in a
doorway looking helpless,” Rena had said, “men can’t
help offering to let you share their umbrella. And you
have to stand very close together or one of you will get
wet. And when a man is feeling protective like that, he
is most susceptible to a girl’s charm.”
    Janine turned away from the window with a laugh.
Trust Rena to turn any situation to advantage with
regard to men. Well, if it did rain, she could always take
the Metro and she wouldn’t get too wet. But, she
thought, I’d better change back to regular shoes.
    The rain held off, so Janine decided to walk, leaving
herself plenty of time to stop and look in windows. She took small side streets and delighted in all the antique
shops. Since she was not attending to her route, Janine
was surprised when she suddenly found herself at
Boulevard St. Michel. It was full of people and cars and
noisier than she had remembered. She crossed quickly
and headed into the maze of restaurants and pastry
shops she had visited with Mark and Rena a few days
before. Unable to resist the tempting smells that
assailed her, Janine stopped and bought a pastry she
had never seen before. It was sweet and sticky and
when she had finished it, she unabashedly licked her
fingers.

    Janine continued wandering toward Jussieu and the
Faculte des Sciences in her unconcerned way, enjoying
the shops, and finally arrived at the